Daccat's Coin
by Bushner
Summary: A story behind the origin of Daccat's Coin


Duty 7

Blake Duty

Mr. Denton

CP English 10

14 September 2012

Daccat's Coin

The age of exploration has dawned upon the world of Arcadia. Brave adventurers set sail across the vast skies in search of treasures untold. And where there is treasure, there will be pirates. Enchanted by the powers of the six moons of their world, the land and all of man's ships are all in the sky. The moons also bless the land itself, depending on the color of the moon. Nations have divided; separate in the customs, technology, and the type of land.

Two of these nations in particular are the largest and warring with each other. The Valuans, blessed under the yellow moon, stand at higher technology from the electric moon. Their capital is also surrounded by mountains, allowing their capital to have only one grand entrance, where a mighty fortress, duly called the Grand Fortress, stands. On the other side are the Nasrians, who stand under the red moon. This moon being the moon of fire, they have the most land but it is all desert. As a result, they have the larger military. This story however, is about a third party in this war.

Back at a tavern, the notorious pirate captain, Daccat, is approached by a representative of Nasr. The short, tanned ambassador stood in sharp contrast to Daccat. He stood average size, with a grand brown beard, eye patch, blue vest, brown boots, and trousers. His captain's hat standing crooked on his Caucasian head. Standing off in the side of the room was Daccat's first mate, Juan. Juan was average size, and his brown trench coat and hat obscured any other features. Across the room, the wanted posters for the whole crew stood out.

The ambassador had offered Daccat a job of helping take over the Valua. Daccat had accepted and the ambassador was now writing the specifications on a piece of paper. Finally he finished and handed the paper to Daccat. Juan moved in to see the paper as well. After a while Daccat spoke, "You actually expect a barrage on the Grand Fortress to work?"

"But of course, we have the whole might of the Nasr fleet at our disposal. If anything can get past it, it will be this raid," the ambassador replied.

"Yes…If anything. If I decide to help I will meet you at the coordinates. Of course we will need some money to prepare," Daccat said slowly.

"It was already taken care of while we were talking. It would be an honor if you were to join us," the ambassador said excitedly, taking his leave.

"Better make sure it's worth it," Juan said quietly.

They left the small room at the back of the tavern, collecting their drinks and gathering the crew. They returned to their ship, docked off the side of the small tavern island. They had several destinations to get to: Nasr, Sailor Island, and a tavern, of course. They set the sails on their large wooden ship and cast off north, towards Nasr.

Right before the canyon leading into Nasr, they heard some cannon shots off of the port side. As the crew started to get into battle positions, Daccat looked through his telescope. He saw a Valuan gunship attacking an unarmed Nasr merchant vessel. Obviously, the merchant would not survive long, so Daccat manned the helm and sailed down into the clouds. As the Valuans were getting ready to board the merchant vessel, he raised his ship out of the clouds behind the gunship's stern. This unprotected area, due to the engine, was annihilated easily by the barrage of cannons from the pirates. As the ship sank below the clouds, Daccat escorted the merchant past the canyon.

While in Nasr, Daccat was approached by a group of large, armed, people. They simply looked at him, back at a poster, and drew their weapons. As Daccat drew his dual pistols, the poster was dropped. He saw the poster was for his head. Daccat took the first shots while they were crowded, ducking behind a wall as he fired. Meanwhile, as he attempted to reload, they fired right back. Four shots, one after another, all hitting the wall he was ducked behind. Four shots meant he dropped one.

While he heard them draw their swords, he continued to reload. As he finished the second pistol, he could see their shadows. Judging where they were by the shadows, he shot around the corner without looking. When they retaliated with shots of their own, one hitting his left hand, one of them dropped. After the last of the shots, he threw his hat at one of the bounty hunters, and charged them.

Distracted by the hat, the bounty hunter stood no chance against two cutlasses. The other two bounty hunters had their weapons drawn, a war hammer and a rapier. Flanking Daccat, they held the upper hand against him. As they tried to hit him, a gunshot rang out and the one with the war hammer fell. Off in the distance, Juan started to reload his musket. The last bounty hunter, distracted momentarily by his fallen comrade, fell to five stab wounds. Daccat picked up his hat, and went back on his way.

After buying upgraded cannons at Nasr, the crew set forth to Sailor Island, a popular trade hub. On their way, they saw a Valuan Merchant vessel of to the starboard. Although close to Valuan territory, the crew advanced on the vessel. Boarding the vessel, they took all of their stock. Once Daccat found that they were transporting weapons and cannons, he took the crew hostage. While his crew searched the ship for logs, he decided to interrogate the prisoners.

"And just where were you taking these weapons to?" Daccat asked as he paced back and forth. His query was met with silence. He smiled maliciously. "Did I ever tell you why I became a pirate? It's because of scum like you. My parents were minding their own business in their village. Then the whole island was raided by Valuans, looking for a group of pirates. When they didn't find them, they blazed the whole village. The pirates were there, but they kept silent, like you, and made their escape while innocents died behind them. Now then, who wants to tell me where you were going?"

The crew came back with the shipping logs. It showed that they were heading for a Valuan ambush point. The ambush would lead to a large portion of the Nasr fleet to become demolished. Daccat put the hostages back on their ship. But as they ships parted ways, Daccat's ship let loose the cannons. The ship sank below the clouds as the sun began to set. They spent that night in the tavern.

In the morning, they set out to warn the fleet. The problem, however, was that the ambush was between them. They decided that they should try to trick them. Go smooth and steady and make it not look like they are with the Nasr.

As they passed they ambush point, they went as slowly as they could stand, knowing that almost the entire Valuan armada was just on the other side of some islands. The flag had been swapped for a traveling doctor's, and the crew was tucked out of sight below deck, manning the cannons in case things turned belly-up.

Daccat was on the top deck, disguised, but visible. Everyone knowing your face is quite a nasty thing to have. As they went through the canyon, almost immediately the Valuan ships came around the islands and began to open fire. It was almost an entire fleet of them. As they began to approach, the crew let loose a volley of shots of their own. Armed with the new cannons, they fell one ship. Problem being, there was still at least twenty more.

As the crew reloaded the cannons, the Valuan ships fired their torpedoes. As the torpedoes went up, Daccat begun to sink lower into the clouds, which would give him more reaction time. Being able to see the torpedoes coming down on their position, they avoided the majority of it. What they didn't avoid took out the lookout and the smaller of the two masts. Their speed was now greatly reduced, and the ships drew closer. The next volley of shots from the pirate's ship took out another ship.

There was one ship off alone near where the wind was blowing to. While it was close, it hadn't turned to fire its cannons yet. Daccat knew this might be a chance, and headed towards the ship. As the Valuan ship began to turn to fire, the crew was still reloading their cannons. Daccat decided that if he didn't act now, they might die. He raised the ship higher and headed straight towards the ship. He rose at the last moment to make sure that the ship only rammed the control tower. The pilotless ship now posed no problem.

Winning a moment to themselves, the pirates plotted. Seeing as this ambush would definitely take out a large portion of the Nasr fleet, they needed to survive. Without a warning they might be downed enough ships to make the assault fail. They had to come up with some sort of plan. Below deck, Juan and Daccat discussed possible actions.

"If we ride low, the cannons hit us; if we ride high, the torpedoes hit us," Daccat said miserably. "I don't think the ship is going to survive this. If we get on the lifeboats, they will surely fire upon us."

"Worth a shot," Juan said quietly.

As the crew loaded onto the boats, they tried all the tricks to try to get out alive. Praying, wishing, some rubbing their good luck charms. As the last lifeboat for Daccat and Juan was ready to depart, Juan started to push the lifeboat. "What are you doing?" Daccat yelled.

"Giving us a fighting chance." Said Juan said solemnly. "Make sure it's worth it." The lifeboat was now off the ship.

As the boats gained distance, their ship begun to sail fast in the opposite direction, firing a shot occasionally at the advancing ships. The skeleton crew of one man stood no chance against a small navy of well manned ships. The ship begun to sink below the clouds, but no one saw the lifeboats. That was the second time Daccat ever cried. As they had to land on a nearby island, still far enough away to not be seen, the Valuan ships returned to their positions behind the islands.

Stranded on the island, the crew begun to try to make a signaling fire for the Nasr Fleet. They had nothing on the island to burn, so they threw their possessions into a pile. The gunpowder from the guns would be able to ignite the pile of guns, clothing, and scabbards. As night approached, they could hear the ships off in the distance. Using flint from one of the guns, they ignited the signal and were soon picked up.

After telling the captain their story, they were paid and were to be brought back to Nasr on a passing merchant ship. As the merchant ship drew closer to Nasr, they could hear the fighting behind them. Hopefully the forewarning would allow them to easily defeat the ambush. But a matter of how many ships they would lose was the question. They spent the next several days in Nasr, waiting for word from the invasion. They bought a small ship with the money they earned. After three days, the fleet came back, defeated. The fortress had held, for they had not even made a dent.

They went back to their pirating ways, a little less efficient now that Juan was gone. They earned so much money that Daccat hallowed out an island. He made it a dungeon in Juan's honor. You need two people to get to the center. At the center lays a single gold coin, minted with Daccat's flag, and a note, about how the greatest treasure of all was friendship. He gave the map to two sailors and told them it was where he buried his treasure. The two sailors split the map amongst themselves.


End file.
